East Vs. West, East Wins World Title!

I’m exhausted, but I want to throw a few things up, just for now. More later.
First I’d like to thank Brian of Mallets Of Mayhem polo club and Pieter of East Van Bike Polo for all the hard work to make the Bike Polo Tournament at the Cycle Messenger World Championship happen. Good work guys!
Second, I’d like to thank Trackstar NYC for sponsoring me to participate in the CMWC and Red Bull for giving cases and cases of product and being our polo team, and others, travel sponsor by paying for our rental van. Thank you!
Thank you again to everyone who took the time to let me photograph them.
Also I’d like to say that Fuji Bikes, PAC Designs, Crumpler, Trackstar NYC, and R.E.Load Baggage all hooked it up for polo prizes.

I am glad I contacted Tofu to make him aware that someone is writing in Tofu’s Christian name..

I know, I know… Tofu only likes to go by Tofu..and he didnt write any of these posts.

So I wonder then, who ARE you “jon K.” or “Ardent” with all your fake financial info? Where did you get all this false information? And why are you using someone else’s old handles?!? You seem very personally invested in defending the image of CMWC 2008 Inc. for just a “volunteer”….

If you would like to clear this up please contact me off list / face to face. This is not the forum for any of this.

Bike Polo is a relatively new extreme sport played by poor low to middle class citizens in urban cities around the world. I use the adjective “extreme” to refer to the amount of violence in the sport, as well as the sport’s high risk for liability insurance claims. This sport is often played without helmets and other vital protective gear since the sport is not regulated. Bicycle messengers make up the majority of the sport’s grass root athlete’s. Therefore, it can be said that the sport is played by undereducated citizens, criminals, drug addicts, the mentally challenged and members of visible minority groups. Bike Polo is primarily dominantly played by men, although the sport has attracted few women that are attracted by the cheap bright rainbow style of the sport.

During any bike polo tournament there is alcohol consumptions: STUPID! A true athlete knows that they are held as role models to the children in the surrounding communities, and therefore would NEVER be caught seen publicly smoking, drinking and smoking “herb”. The athlete’s of this sport are disgraceful because they lack intelligence, style, etiquette, morals and ethics. Drugs and alcohol during any sport tournament, fundraiser and/or event is prohibited by every other sport—- except for bike polo which is a poor man’s sport and therefore, you can witness these wannabe-athletes’s spitting, breaking glass, fighting, consuming drugs and alcohol. Rarely do any of these teams come equipped with a first aid kit!

No wonder there is so much bickering between players and online. No wonder the competitions are poorly promoted and advertised. No wonder most bike polo teams are too lazy and unskilled to maintain a website. No wonder the accident rate and mortality rate in messengers is higher than those that simply cycle. If this sport truly wants to advance, it will require a major change in the way these so called athlete’s perform, behave, organize and play the sport. I don’t see this happening until middle-upper class citizen’s catch onto this game and start to compete against the lower class athlete’s. That will force these bike messengers to truly get serious, shape up, grow up and learn the true meaning of an athlete.

Wow Big Ten, you’re over a year late to comment on this post. I wonder why you chose this one over the 100′s of other ones? And no, it doesnt bother me that you made so many unqualified statements about bike polo. There are way too many players of the sport in countries all over the world for your words to be remotely close to the truth.
Good luck to you, who ever you may be.

Australasian Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships May 7th – 8th, 2011 Adelaide, Australia I like that in Australia they have it together enough to just make a yearly distinction versus doing the first, second, ect. for their Championships. That’s pro. More info: bikepolo.com.au

Last year I was working for The Travel Channel on a TV show about NYC bike messengers and finally they have a page on their site devoted to the show. This is the first I’ve heard the title of the show. Triple Rush. Triple Rush gives you an insider’s look at the chaotic workings of […]

Image from Ben’s Cycle I just got word that the 120mm polo fork that Milwaukee Bicycle Co. and I worked together to make is now available. I’ve been riding this fork since before 2010 Worlds and it’s great. When I was working with Drew at MKE to make this happen I had this to say […]

Desert Polo Invite III N.A. Qualifier Bike Polo Tournament January 29th – 30th, 2011 Tempe, AZ I just caught this in my RSS feed. Seen on the EighthInch site. The updated flier makes things official. The Desert Polo Invite will be a qualifier for the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships this year. The top […]

Some may remember a photo project I was posting about earlier this year, were I would photograph NYC bike messengers while they were working. I posted a few (see “messengering” tag for more) and I have more in the vault that are unpublished. Well, now I’m working on a Travel Channel project and filming NYC […]